EARLY HISTORY 

OF THE 

Republican Party in Ohio 

1854-5 

With Supplemental Notes 



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I EARLY HISTORY 

OF THE 

Republican Party in Ohio. 

Extract from VoL //., i888-g, 

“ Ohio A rchcelogical and Historical Quarterly A 


On July i3thj 1854, the Anniversary of the “Ordinance of 1787,” 
there assembled at Neil’s New Hall, Columbus, Ohio, a large Dele¬ 
gate Convention, representing every town in the State, having for its 
purpose “to fuse into one practical organization all political elements 
which opposed the repeal of the ‘ Missouri Compromise,’ and were 
ready to resist the extension of slavery into Kansas and Nebraska.” 

.A similar Convention met on the same day at Indianapolis, in the 
State of Indiana, and its presiding officer was the Hon. Henry S. Lane. 

The Ohio Convention was a fair representation of the Anti-Slavery 
elements which belonged to the old Whig, Democratic, Free Soil, and 
Liberty Parties. Among the delegates were those who had been the 
special friends of Birney and John Van Buren, as well as those who 
took part in the Legislative action of 1848-9, which first placed 
Salmon P. Chase in the United States Senate.* 

Benjamin F. Leiter, Esq., Democrat, who, as a member of the 
Legislature in 1848-9, had figured prominently at the opening of 
that session, was elected Chairman of the Convention, and J. H. 
Baker, Esq., Whig, with J. H. Herrick, Esq., Free Soil, were made 
Secretaries.t 

The following Committee on Resolutions were selected from the 
twenty-one Congressional Districts : 

First District, Benjamin Eggleston; 2nd District, James Elliott; 
3d District, David Heaton; 4th District, T. Cunningham; 5th Dis- 

*See Hon. Norton S. Townshend’s Letter, Page 5, for history of the first election 
of Mr. Chase to the United States Senate. 

tj. H. Baker was editor of the Scioto Gazette^ and J. H. Herrick ^^as editor of 
\.h.Q Portage Democrat," 






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trict, y. y. Paul; 6th District, William Allison; 7th District, 
W, H P. Denny; 8th District, y. Corwin; 9th District, H^mer 
Elliott; loth District, E. Nye; nth District, yoshua R. Giddings; 
12th T>\sU\ct, Henry B. Carrington; 13th District, yoseph Root; 14th 
District, Norton S. Townshend; 15th District, yoseph W. Vance; 16th 
District, Davis Green; 17th District, yohn Davenport; i8th District, 
E. N Sill; 19th District, Rufus P. Spaulding; 20th District, Geotge 
E. Brown; 21st District, Ephraim R. Eckley. 

This Committee assembled at Room 18 of the American Hotel, and 
unanirriously adopted the following resolutions : 

PREAMBLE. 

Whereas, The positive prohibition of slavery in the territory to the 
north and west of Missouri, imposed by Congress in the year 1820, at 
the instance of Southern statesmen, and as an equivalent for the 
admission of Missouri as a State without that restriction, has been 
removed by the passage of the bill to establish territorial governments 
in Nebraska and Kansas; and. 

Whereas, It becomes important to ascertain if the popular mind 
in regard to slavery has retrograded in Ohio during the last thirty-four 
years, notwithstanding the benign influence of the “Ordinance of 
1787,” which made them perpetually free, and which has been the prin¬ 
cipal means of our unexampled prosperity and happiness, therefore,— 

Resolved^ First, That we hail with gladness and gratitude the Anni¬ 
versary of that glorious day when the Congress of the Confederacy 
imposed upon the Northwest Territory that Ordinance of Freedom 
which has given character and confidence to five great States, now 
containing five million of freemen, but not one slave. 

Resolved^ Second, That in humble imitation of the virtue and 
patriotism which inspired our fathers in the enactment of that Ordi¬ 
nance, we solemnly renew this day our covenant vows to resist the 
spread of slavery, under whatever shape or color it may be attempted. 

Resolveds Third, That to this end we will labor assiduously to 
render inoperative and void that portion of “ The Kansas and Ne¬ 
braska BilD^ which abolished freedom in the territories withdrawn 
from the influences of slavery by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, 
and that we will oppose, by every lawful and constitutional means, 
every further increase of Slave Territory, or Slave States, in this 
“ Republican Confederacy.” 


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Resolved^ Fourth, That in order that public sentiment on this great 
subject may be concentrated and developed in the State of Ohio, at 
the earliest possible period, we will proceed to place in nomination 
suitable candidates for the Supreme Bench and Board of Public 
Works, and invite to their support, at the approaching election, the 
votes of all good citizens, without reference to parties. 

Resolved, Fifth, That we concur in the recommendation of the 
people of Michigan, that there be called a general Convention of the 
Free States, and such of the slave-holding States, or portions thereof, 
as may desire to be there represented, with the view of the adoption 
of other and more effective measures in resistance of the encroach¬ 
ments of slavery, and that a Committee of five persons be appointed 
to correspond and co-operate with our friends in other States on this 
subject. 

Resolved, Sixth, That a Committee be appointed by this Convention 
as a pro tern State Central Committee, with power to call another 
Convention of the Friends of liberty, and to take other measures that 
may be necessary to perfect the declared designs of this Convention.* 

Resolved, Seventh, That the soil of Nebraska and Kansas shall be 
appropriated for free homes, for free men. 

During the noon recess of the Convention, and before the Commit¬ 
tee on Resolutions had fully completed their work, Hon. Wm. Denni¬ 
son, Jr., handed to his law-partner, Mr. Carrington, who was on the 
Committee from the Columbus District, a Detroit paper stating that 
at a meeting held in that city the name Republican ” had been sug¬ 
gested for the “ Fusion Party.”t Mr. Giddings and Messrs. Towns- 
hend. Root and Paul, opposed the selection of any distinctive name 


*This Committee consisted of thirteen members viz.: A. F. Slone, Cha.\rmzn, 
with Dr. J. H. Coulter, O. Follette, editor Ohio State Journal, John W. Andrews, 
Esq., Aaron F. Perry, Esq., in part owner of the Ohio State Jourttal, Samuel Gallo¬ 
way, Esq., afterwards Member of Congress, and L. G. Van Slyke, all of Columbus!; 
Charles Reemelin, Esq., of Hamilton; John Welsh, Esq., Athens;/<?//« A. Foot, 
Esq., of Cleveland; J. A. Bingham, Esq., of Tusaraugus; S. B. Brown and O. 
White. 

t Extract from the Detroit paper submitted to the Ohio Committee on Resolu¬ 
tions was credited accidentally to action at Detroit, instead of at Jackson, Mich., 
but reads, from the original pencil memorandum before that Committee, as 
follows, viz.: 

“That, in view of the necessity of battling for the first principles of Represen¬ 
tative Government, and against the scheme of aristocracy the most revolting and 
oppressive with which the earth was ever cursed, or man debased, we will co-op¬ 
erate and be known as Republicans, until the contest is terminated.” 



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as premature^ until at least one State Election should determine whether 
there was a genuine fusion of all the anti-slavery elements of the old 
parties, or simply a device of the two old parties to swallow up (he 
original Free-Soilers. The expression “Republican Confederacy,” in 
the Third Resolution, took shape from this discussion. 

The Re'solutions, as thus reported, were adopted by the Conven¬ 
tion, and the Committee, “ To correspond with the committees of 
other States on the subject of a National Convention,” consisted of 
the following persons, viz., Henry B. Carrington, of Columbus, Chair¬ 
man, and J. H. Baker, of Chillicothe, Whigs; Joseph R. Swan, of 
Columbus, and Rufus P. Spaulding, of Cleveland, Democrats ; Dr. J. 
B. Coulter, of Columbus, Free Soil anti Liberty Party representative. 
Messrs. Carrington and Swan were known as belonging to the anti¬ 
slavery wings of their respective parlies, so that all shades of political 
interest appeared on the Committee. 

During the closing hours of the Convention the following telegram 
was received from Ho 7 i. Hciiry S. Lane, then presiding over the 
Indiana Convention: “The Indianapolis Convention repudiates the 
Nebraska Swindle, and has organized for a victorious contest.” 

The Ohio Convention nominated Judge Joseph R. Swan, Free Soil 
Democrat, for Supreme Judge, and he was elected by a majority of 
more than One Hundred Thousand. Henry S. Lane presided, subse¬ 
quently, and William Dennison, Jr., was a Vice-President of the 
Philadelphia Convention, which placed the first National Republican 
ticket in the field. 

Nearly all of the actors who look part in that Convention have 
passed away. Judge Spaulding reaching the age of eighty-four. More 
than seven-eighths of the parties with whom the Special Committee 
had correspondence, are no longer among the living. The Notes 
interlined by Mr. Giddings, at Room No. i8 of the American Hotel, 
have become fragmentary, and almost illegible; but the record may 
have some value as a souvenir of issues whose consequences were to 
be the completer unity, and the more perfect fraternity, of the citizens 
of this great Republic. 


Henry B. Carrington. 


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The first election of Mr. Chase to the United States Senate is fully 
explained in the following letter which has had its substance incor¬ 
porated in many political papers, but is given entire from the preserved 
original. 

Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 26, 1873. 

Dear General : 

Yours of the 20th inst. was promptly received. Your recollections 
of the struggle of 1848-9 were, 1 presume, pretty distinct, for the 
excitement was very great, and we were all terribly in earnest. 

I have written to Mr. Schuckers* briefly of the part taken by Col. 
Morse and myself in Mr. Chase’s election, and believe I. did not say 
to him what was probably true, that at the opening of that session I 
was probably the only Chase man. Not that there were not several 
who recognized his great ability, and who probably preferred him to • 
every other candidate; but, so far as I now remember, no one else 
cherished the slightest hope of seeing it accomplished. As I view the 
matter, the incident that first shed a ray of hope on the whole, occurred 
the night the Free Soil members of the Legislature held their 
first caucus. 

Senator Ben. Tappan was present by invitation, and he strongly 
urged that in all our action we must be a unit, and proposed that we 
pledge ourselves individually to vote in the Legislature as we should 
have previously voted to do in caucus; not simply on nominations, 
but also on all matters of importance. 

To this, eleven members of the caucus assented, speaking, one by 
one. I was called upon, the twelfth. I declined to give the pledge, 
because, as I said, I had never been a Whig, like all of those who 
had spoken, and all my immedate supporters were not Whigs, but 
purely and simply anti-slavery men. I was there to act with any 
party, or against any party, as the cause of Freedom might require. 
Mr. Morse, the only remaining member, endorsed what I had said. 
Whereupon we were told that on such terms we would not be recog¬ 
nized, etc., etc. Then, without seeing much of future possibilities, I 
immediately said, that as Col. Morse and myself were the only 
members of the Legislature that had been elected independently, and 
without the aid of, and in opposition to Loth the old Parties, we two 
constituted the Independent Free Soil Party of that Legislature, and 
we would recognize no others, etc. The importance of this was in 
the fact that counting the other eleven with the Whigs they exactly 
equalled the Democrats, and left Col. Morse and myself with the 

balance of power,” as it was called. 

Both parties seeing Col. Morse and myself united and inflexible, 
neither to be coerced nor intimidated, began to make advances and 
offers to treat with us. 

* Mr. Schuckers was then preparing his “ Life of Chase.” 



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Mr. Morse and myself differed only on one point, and that in regard 
to Senator. Mr. Giddings was his first choice, Mr. Chase his second. 
With me the order was reversed, Mr. Chase was my first choice, 
Mr. G. my second. Both of us wanted the “ Black Laws ” 
repealed. Hence the agreement between us that Mr. Morse shoui^ 
confer with leading Whigs, and if that Party would repeal the “ Black 
Laws,” and elect Mr. Giddings to the Senate, we would assist the 
Whigs in various nominations, etc. 

At the same time I was to confer with the leading Democrats, and 
make them the offer that if they would repeal the “ Black Laws,” 
and elect Mr. Chase to the Senate, we would aid them in certain 
measures and nominations. The Democrats assented to my propo¬ 
sition, while one or two of the Whigs could not be brought to accept 
Mr. Morse’s, and hence the result. That was the famous “ Bargain 
and Sale,” as the Whigs denounced it, after their grapes proved 
to be sour. 

I have written something of this to Mr. Schuckers. 

Yours truly, 

Gen. H. B. Carrington, 

Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind. 


The Ohio action in 1854 was not the abnegation of all distinctive 
issues between the two great political parties of that day. A condi¬ 
tion had ensued which suspended all old-time economic issues. 

Mr. Spaulding., in support of his action, which was that of a man of 
rare self-assertion in his Democratic opinions, said, “This, is not an 
attempt at ‘fusion,’ but an attempt to unite the sober judgment of the 
people of Ohio, on the outrage perpetrated upon them by the Repeal 
of the ‘ Missouri Compromise.’ ” 

yacob Brmkerlioff dinwouwzQd his convictions as follows, “ Benjamin 
Franklin had often looked at the painting of the sun behind the 
President’s chair in the picture of the signing of the Constitution, and 
had asked himself whether it was a rising or a setting sunl' d'o-day 
that question is settled. It is the rising sun^ and emblematical of this 
Republic. This New Union is the rising sun. It is destined'to a 
glorious day ! It will cover the land with its glory ! ” 

Ohio, as a State, first demonstrated by a popular State Election, 
that her birthright as the first born child of the Northwest, under the 



Ordinance of 1787, was to be vindicated at all hazards, and by the 
abnegation of all minor differences. 

Of the leading men with whom the correspondence of the Ohio 
Committee of Five was carried on, nearly all have passed away. 
Amos Tuck of New Hampshire, Cassius M. Clay and Rev. Gee, of 
Kentucky, were among the most earnest to endorse the action of Ohio. 
The Letter Books themselves, faded, water-soaked, and almost wholly 
obliterated by long years of exposure under many changes, have 
ceased to have value.* 

The original article, written for the Ohio Archceological and Histor¬ 
ical Quarterly^ gave reliable data, within the limits proposed, and the 
Convention of 1855; the subsequent election of Mr. Chase twice as 
Governor of Ohio, of William Dennison as his successor, and their 
respective administrations, are matters of general history. 

The period to which Dr. Townshend refers was indeed exciting, pre¬ 
paratory to the consolidation of rapidly-maturing sentiment, in the 
campaign of 1854. 

H. B. C. 

Hyde Park^ Mass., May 13, 1904. 


*The Committee on Resolutions, 1855, wms as follows, viz., John Sherman, 
Chairman, with George IV. Trite, C. B. 'Tompkins, I/ngh Forsyth, Thomas Earl, 
R. F. Spaulding (who reported the Resolutions to the Convention),/. R. Gtddings 
(who thought “the Resolutions did not go far enough ’ ), Dr. Jos. Robertson, J. M. 
Gitchell, Wm. Schoulgr (afterward Adjt. Gen. Massachusetts, at ojjening of the 
war), D. W. Iddings, Justin Hamilton, W. A. Hunter, David 'Taylor, A. H. 
Duuberry, Benjamin Stanton, C.J. Watson, E. Nigh and Wm. Peck. 

Delegates to the National Conveution, Wm. Dennison, Jr., Alphonso Taft, of 
Cincinnati, J. N. Talmadge and Joshua R. Giddings. 

Upon the ist ballot for Governor, Mr. Chase received 225 votes, Judge Swan, 
102, and Mr. Griswold, 42, with some scattering, after which the nomination was 
unanimous. 

Especially earnest workers at Columbus, who largely shaped both city and 
county conventions and politics, may be noticed in addition to those already 
mentioned, viz., as examples, J. Wm. Baldwin (defeated for Probate Judge 
together with the candidate as Prosecuting Attorney, by the “Know Nothing 
ground-swell ”), James L. Bates, Samuel Brush, Alanson Bull, Luther Donelson, 
Otto Dressel, Lorenzo English, A. S. Felch, John S. Hall Peter Hayden, Lewis 
Heyl, B. F. Martin (still livine), Jonas McCune (still living), Henry Miller, Henry 
C. Noble, Arthur O’Harra, Joseph Ridgeway, Dr. Jacob Shaeffer, Abram Sharp, 
Dr. Samuel M. Smith, Joseph Sullivant, P. B. Wilcox, D. T. Woodbury, and 
Julius J. Wood. 

Every city, town and county had its characteristic workers in giving impetus 
to the Republican party of Ohio, while few survive to witness the culmination of 
its realized promise, Anno Domini, 1904. 







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